Torches are fine for a dirt shack, but eventually, you want your base to actually look like a home. You've probably seen those cozy medieval builds or sleek modern mansions and wondered why your lighting looks so amateur. The answer is almost always lanterns. If you're trying to figure out how to make lanterns minecraft players actually use for high-end aesthetics, you're in the right place. It’s a simple recipe on paper, yet the logistics of gathering the ingredients—especially if you're early in a survival world—can be a bit of a pain.
Lighting in Minecraft isn't just about "can I see the floor?" anymore. It’s about light levels. Ever since the 1.18 update, mobs only spawn in total darkness (light level 0). This changed the game. Lanterns became way more viable because they emit a light level of 15, which is the highest in the game. That’s brighter than a torch. Plus, they look infinitely better hanging from a chain than a stick of burning coal shoved into a wall.
The Basic Recipe and What You’ll Actually Need
Let's get the crafting grid out of the way. To make a standard lantern, you need one torch and eight iron nuggets. You place the torch right in the center of the 3x3 crafting grid and surround it entirely with the nuggets.
Wait. Where do you get nuggets? Honestly, don't waste your time smelting iron tools just for nine nuggets. Just throw a single iron ingot into the crafting window. One ingot equals nine nuggets. So, for every iron ingot you have, you can basically make one lantern with a nugget to spare. It’s efficient. It’s cheap. But you do need that iron. If you’re fresh off the spawn point, find a cave or start a small iron farm. You'll need it.
There is a second type, though. The Soul Lantern.
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These are the moody, blue versions. To craft these, you swap the regular torch for a Soul Torch. A Soul Torch is made by adding Soul Sand or Soul Soil to the standard torch recipe (Coal/Charcoal + Stick). Soul Lanterns are cooler—literally—but they only have a light level of 10. They won't stop mobs from spawning as effectively over a large area, so keep that in mind if you're lighting up a perimeter.
Why Lanterns Beat Torches Every Single Time
Torches are iconic. We love them. But they are ugly.
Lanterns can be placed on top of blocks or, more importantly, hung from the bottom of blocks. This is huge for interior design. You can’t hang a torch. If you try to put a torch on a ceiling, it just won't work. You end up with these awkward wall-mounted stubs. With lanterns, you can use chains. A chain plus a lantern is the "golden ratio" of Minecraft building. It adds verticality. It makes a room feel taller.
Also, water.
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Torches pop off the second a stray bucket of water hits them. Lanterns? They stay put. If you’re building an underwater base or just a fountain in your garden, lanterns are the only way to go unless you want to mess around with glowstone or sea lanterns, which are significantly harder to farm in bulk.
Sourcing Materials Like a Pro
If you're playing on a server or a long-term survival world, you don't want to be crafting these one by one. You need a system.
- Iron: Don't mine for this manually if you need hundreds of lanterns. Build a basic iron golem farm. Even a simple one produces enough iron to craft thousands of nuggets per hour.
- Coal: This is the bottleneck for torches. Use charcoal if you have to. Just burn wood logs in a furnace. It’s renewable and keeps you out of the deep dark if you're not ready for Wardens.
- Trading: Did you know you can just buy them? Librarian villagers sometimes sell lanterns for a single emerald. If you have a cured zombie villager and a fletcher selling sticks for emeralds, you effectively have an infinite lantern supply without ever touching a crafting table.
The Nether Dilemma: Soul Lanterns
Going into the Nether just for a blue light seems extra, but the atmosphere is worth it. Soul lanterns aren't just for show; they actually repel Piglins in certain contexts (though don't rely on them as a primary defense). The real draw is the "vibe." If you’re building something spooky or a laboratory, that blue glow is unmatched.
To get the Soul Soil or Soul Sand, you need to find a Soul Sand Valley. Watch out for Ghasts. Seriously. They will blow up your bridge while you're staring at the ground digging up soil. Once you have a stack of Soul Soil, you're set for a long time. You only need one bit of soil to craft four Soul Torches.
Common Mistakes When Using Lanterns
People tend to over-light. Because lanterns are so bright (Level 15), you don't need them every two blocks.
Space them out.
If you place them too close together, your build looks cluttered. A good rule of thumb is to place them about 5 to 7 blocks apart. This keeps the light level high enough to prevent creepers from appearing in your living room while maintaining some shadows for depth. Also, remember that lanterns take up a full block of space in terms of hitboxes, even though they look small. You can't walk through them like you can with a torch. I've seen plenty of players trap themselves in a 1x1 hallway because they hung a lantern at head height. Don't be that person.
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Advanced Placement Hacks
Try hiding them.
You can place a lantern under a moss carpet or a regular carpet. The light shines through. It gives your floor a "glow" without showing the actual block. This is great for paths or gardens where you want to see where you're going but don't want a bunch of metal lamps sticking out of the grass.
Another trick: Use them with fence posts. A fence post with a lantern on top looks like a proper streetlamp. It’s a classic for a reason. If you want to get fancy, put a daylight sensor on top of a block, then a fence post, then a lantern. It doesn't actually toggle the lantern (lanterns are always on), but it looks like a real-world utility pole.
Technical Stats for the Nerds
| Feature | Regular Lantern | Soul Lantern |
|---|---|---|
| Light Level | 15 | 10 |
| Crafting | 8 Iron Nuggets + 1 Torch | 8 Iron Nuggets + 1 Soul Torch |
| Piglin Interaction | Neutral | Repels (sometimes) |
| Breaks with water? | No | No |
Minecraft’s lighting engine has evolved, and while we might get dynamic lighting or fancy shaders one day in the base game, for now, we work with what we have. The lantern is arguably the most versatile light source Mojang has ever added. It fits in a pirate ship, a castle, a bunker, and a village smithy.
Actionable Next Steps
To get started on your lighting overhaul, follow this workflow:
- Check your iron supply: If you have less than a stack of ingots, head down to Y-level 16 or find a village to "borrow" some iron from their golem.
- Convert to nuggets: Turn 10 ingots into 90 nuggets immediately.
- Craft in bulk: Make at least 10 lanterns at once. Doing it one by one is a recipe for frustration.
- Test your heights: Go to your build and place lanterns at different heights using chains. See how the shadows change.
- Swap for Soul: If a room feels too "yellow," replace half the lanterns with Soul versions to balance the color temperature of the space.
Don't settle for the "standard" torch-on-a-wall look. Experimenting with how to make lanterns minecraft players actually respect will transform your world from a temporary survival map into a permanent masterpiece.